Legislative
Your Voice for Trails in the Statehouse
VTGC represents trail organizations in the statehouse and helps shape the conversation and future of outdoor recreation in Vermont. The breadth and diversity of our membership empowers discussions that help lawmakers make difficult land use and recreation decisions.
Why get involved?
Members provide key input
Nothing motivates elected officials or government administrators as much as receiving authentic, real-life input from their constituents. Our member voices are critical to our ability to advocate for sustainable funding to improve Vermont’s trails and to create accessible, inclusive, and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities across the State. Your experience in creating, maintaining, and protecting trail assets gives you a critically valuable perspective.
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Become a Member
If you’re passionate about current policy or an outdoor recreation issue, we encourage you to become a member of the Vermont Trails and Greenways Council. There are many opportunities to become involved and your participation has a tremendous effect on legislative and rule-making outcomes. We will update this page throughout the 2025 legislative session and reach out to stakeholders through our communication channels.
2025 VTGC Legislative Priorities
- Secure support and funding for the initial steps in creating a Recreation Access Recognition program for private landowners, including an economic impact analysis of the contribution of trail-based recreation on private lands, host landowner motivations, and potential program design options.
- Clarify municipalities’ explicit authority, but not obligation, to maintain Legal Trails, ensuring these public rights-of-ways can be best managed in the public’s interest.
- Support the Department of Forests, Parks, & Recreation in modernizing the Vermont Trails System, including establishing the process for the codification of general & universal trail Best Management Practices.
VTGC Policy Goals
Stewardship & Recreation Asset Management
- Public funding devoted to the ongoing stewardship and maintenance of our current public-access recreational assets, especially those managed by independent nonprofit organizations;
- Public investment in future-proofing our trail infrastructure to ensure increased climate resilience;Public funding devoted to the ongoing stewardship and maintenance of our current public-access recreational assets, especially those managed by independent nonprofit organizations;
- Public investment in future-proofing our trail infrastructure to ensure increased climate resilience;
Vermont Trail System Modernization
- The consolidation of existing use-specific trail Best Management Practices (BMPs) into a set of Universal BMPs for the Vermont Trail System, to ensure all public access trails are built and maintained to a high standard;
- A landowner recognition system for those who provide public access trails on their property;
Organizational Support
- Sustainable operational funding for VTGC organizational capacity in order to fulfill its statutory requirements and advisory role to FPR;
Sustainable Development & Workforce
- Additional training programs that will bolster the trail-building and parks infrastructure workforce;
- A comprehensive outdoor recreation economic analysis and impact study to provide actionable insights on:
- the overall statewide and country-specific economic impacts of outdoor recreation,
- economic impacts by recreation type and spending categories,
- the current carrying costs of outdoor recreation asset stewardship and value at risk from ongoing underinvestment,
- how strategic investment in climate resilient adaptation could protect Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy, and
- recommendations for future investments to maintain and grow Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy.
- The prioritization of new accessible recreation infrastructure that allows those living with disabilities to use Vermont’s outdoor recreation assets;
Conservation
Outdoor recreation is appropriately integrated into the Vermont Conservation Strategy Initiative and leveraged as a tool to help achieve the goal of permanently conserving 30% of Vermont’s landscape by 2030.
Contact Us to Learn More:
Nick Bennette, VTGC Chair, nick@vmba.org
Tommy O’Connor, VTGC Vice Chair, toconnor@vtvasa.org
Trails on trial: Mountain Top Resort’s cross-country ski routes caught up in legal dispute
The Chittenden resort and its neighbors are at odds over the reconfiguration of two ski trails that cut through private property. Generations of cross-country skiers have flocked to Chittenden’s Mountain Top Resort to spend wintry days gliding along bucolic, snow-capped paths nestled in the shadow of Killington. Now, as the popular cross-country skiing destination celebrates its 60th year in business, Mountain Top finds itself locked in a legal battle with its neighbors, John and Debra Gerlach, over the fate of two of its trails.
In Tunbridge, a legal battle over public trails could restrict access across Vermont
https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-11-13/tunbridge-legal-battle-over-public-trails-could-restrict-access-across-vermont
There’s a legal battle playing out in Tunbridge over who should maintain the so-called legal trails in Vermont.
Legal trails are former public roads, which aren’t used for traffic anymore, but are still open for walking and other recreational uses. The eventual court ruling could have an impact on more than 500 miles of public trails across the state.
The fight’s been going on for almost five years. The town has spent almost $40,000 so far defending itself in court.
And the whole thing started with a small sign that was pounded into the ground along a public trail that’s less than a mile long.
2024 Agenda
The 2024 legislative season was a busy one for VTGC. We worked diligently with FPR on H 673, An Act relating to Vermont’s Outdoor Recreation Economy. This bill had three key components, all critical to our work, including funding for VTGC staff capacity, a comprehensive outdoor recreation economic impact study, and the development of general…
Outdoor Recreation Day 2024
To support our legislative work and inform legislators of the value of outdoor recreation and trails, we partnered with FPR and VOBA to host the first annual Outdoor Recreation Day. Nearly 100 outdoor recreation organizations and businesses gathered for a day at the statehouse, sharing the importance of outdoor recreation through panel discussions and displays.…
